In a speech at the South Australian Press Club this is what he said of a proposed regulatory body for all media outlets:

KIM WILLIAMS: The very principle of free press demands that any press complaints body be totally free of government pressure, and that means it must be based on the principle of self-regulation.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: And he's ridiculing the proposed public interest test on media ownership.

KIM WILLIAMS: It is in effect, a political interest test, or a government interest test, not a public interest test.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: Kim Williams also says the proposals would breach the constitution.

Professor George Williams from the University of New South Wales is one of Australia's top constitutional experts.

GEORGE WILLIAMS: I think it's fair to say that the Commonwealth has very broad powers in this area.

After the WorkChoices case it would seem that the Commonwealth could regulate any media entity that operates as a corporation. So that would mean for example it would have extensive powers to regulate News Limited and newspapers that it operates.

GEORGE WILLIAMS: The challenge for the Commonwealth here is that it does not have the general power to regulate the media, it's got to use a hotch-potch of powers to extend its coverage as far as it possibly can. Its Corporations power is the most obvious way that it would do that, but it would try and perhaps cover media through trade and commerce, internet regulation and the like. The problem can be is that sometimes there are gaps in that regulation and if there are gaps, and the regulation's not properly drafted, then it can lead to constitutional problems.

That said, look my view is I think the Commonwealth would be very careful in approaching this. I think they will draft the legislation with a view to making sure it withstands constitutional challenge and they would trade-off a lack of coverage in some areas, to ensure that it satisfies constitutional muster.

TOM NIGHTINGALE: The Government commissioned the two reviews at the request of the Greens.

The Coalition has already said it's against both the public interest test on ownership and the single media regulator.

The Greens say it's time the Government made a decision.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, was unavailable this morning and his office wouldn't say whether it has legal advice on the validity of the proposals.

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